The March
The March is the westernmost geopolitical division within the Terian Empire. It is a military march that is ruled by Marquess Isak Farsken. The lands are heavily fortified, and has the largest military by population compared to any other Fiefdom, with an astounding thirty percent of all inhabitants serving in the Imperial Army, numbering an astounding fifty thousand. The erstwhile forests have been largely cleared, with three main fortresses built in strategic positions to counter any possible military threats: Bastion, Charge and Vanguard. History See Bellewerke to March Following the crushed rebellion, Lovis IV dismantled the Fiefdom of Bellewerke in its entirety, and installed the Farksen family in rule of The March. The situation of The March changed dynamically as the war raged on, with more and more of its inhabitants conscripted for service against the Aeristhanians. Disgruntled by the sudden removal of their privileges and rank, nobility soon sold off their lands to the burghers and traveled south or east for easier lives. The burghers, once realising that the only thing of profit was war, either permanently leased their land to the army or began building smithies and other shoppes of war. Although Aeristhanian independence was eventually given, signalling the end of the war in favour of Aeristhane, the war had transformed Bellewerke, previously a resolute Fiefdom with yet beautiful forests and hardy populace into a desolate land that had its resources depleted and fortifications erected in anticipation of an Aeristhanian counterattack that never came. Instead of restoring normality, Lovis IV encouraged this development and actually began to subsidize the development of the arms and war-thaumatics industries in The March. By the 618, the landscape was barely recognisable from the original verdant, rolling foothills, with the grass around the landscape permanently yellowed from excessive battle spell testing and the heavy soot from the smithies and forges. Fortresses Bastion is the premier castle and "capital" of the march, if such a location does indeed exist: nevertheless, it is where the Marquess resides and holds his staff meetings. The fortress is built around the remains of the original trading town First Landing, and consists of a star shaped series of walls, designed to remove any dead zones in the defender's line of fire. To accommodate for the reality of supercharged thaumatic attacks potentially hitting what would've been a stone fortress wall and necessitating costly future repairs, an ambitious plan was conducted: the area surround the city was excavated, essentially leaving the city standing in what was now an artificial depression. From this, the star shaped walls were shaped from the earth itself, allowing thaumatic engineers to repair the wall by literally shifting soil up and to the breach point. This ordeal took the greater deal of half a century to complete, and would not have been possible if not for the Elven slaves under Imperial chains. Charge and Vanguard are more traditional castles, although both are still in a pentagonal shape as opposed to the traditional square construction format, with two sets of walls that super-fire over each other, intended on making the entire fortress nearly impregnable with respect to conventional assault.